News Scan

Repeat Felon Nabbed For Killing Cop: A habitual criminal has been arrested for last Sunday's murder of a Missouri police officer. Dhomonique Ricks of Fox News reports that during a traffic stop at about 10:45 Sunday night, Ian McCarthy jumped out of his vehicle and shot down officer Gary Michael, 37. Roughly 100 local, county and state law enforcement officers were involved in an intense manhunt which ended with McCarthy's arrest Tuesday. At the time of the shooting, McCarthy, who has spent time in prison for first-degree assault and violating parole, was wanted in New Hampshire for leaving the state prior to sentencing on a disorderly conduct charge and in Johnson County, Missouri for unlawful possession of a firearm. The murdered officer had a wife and three children.

Non-Violent Offender Charged With Murder: A Louisville, KY man charged with the Saturday, August 5th murder of 31-year-old man, had been released on Kentucky's Home Incarceration Program (HIP) five days earlier. Natalia Martinez of Wave News reports that proponents of the HIP program touted it as a safe way for the state to prevent jail overcrowding and reduce incarceration costs. The suspect, Justin Curry, has been released on HIP on August 1st after he was arrested for cocaine possession and violating probation. Currey had priors for drug dealing, receiving stolen property, illegal firearm possession, assault and domestic violence. All of these are considered low-level, non-violent crimes that qualified Curry for release as a low risk-offender. Prior to the 2011 adoption of Kentucky's Public Safety and Offender Accountability Act, these crimes would have qualified him for time in prison or county jail. Tough luck for the victim.

2 Comments

In Kentucky, the state prisons are overcrowded, and under court orders to reduce their population. So, state prisons are refusing to accept convicted felons from county jails, which means that the Louisville local jails are overcrowded, and not surprisingly, under their own court-ordered population reductions orders. As a result, you have to be convicted or waiting trial for a small number of violent offenses - like murder - to be disqualified from the "HIP", or Home Incarceration Program, although in a recent case, a judge sent a murder arrestee to the HIP. The judge says that the police failed to put enough details in the arrest report to allow him to find the murder defendant was a threat to public safety. (?)
Why are Kentucky prisons so overcrowded? The state cancelled contracts with a private prison provider in 2013, and the private prisons remain empty and unused. The single largest category of new prisoners in state prisons? Since 2015, up nearly 20%, those acccused or parole or probation violations. Which just seems to confirm letting people go instead of putting them behind bars is not a workable strategy.
The state is nw considering hiring another (or the same rebranded) private jail company.
Most or all of this has occurred while Republicans had the governor's office and a majority in the state legislature, which just proves I suppose that stupid is not limted to party affiliation.

“It has now been over 5 years since Pres. Obama signed into law the so-called ‘Affordable Care Act,’
"... [with] fuzzy math and false promises to jam through this enormous, unwieldy health care measure that the American people overwhelmingly oppose.

“But today, all that bullying and brinksmanship comes to a screeching halt.

“My constituents in Arizona call and write me daily, daily, begging and pleading
that something be done to alleviate the financial hardship of Obamacare.

“Today, I am proud to once again stand with my Republican colleagues as we continue the fight to repeal and replace Obamacare. From the start
I opposed the sweeping scope of this healthcare law ... "

“The legislation we will vote on today takes a critical step forward in lifting
the burden that Obamacare has placed ... It continues our long fight
to repeal this harmful law..."

7/28/17 STATEMENT BY SEN. JOHN McCAIN ON VOTING “NO” ON “SKINNY REPEAL”

Washington, D.C. ­– ...“From the beginning, I have believed that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with a solution that increases competition, lowers costs, and improves care for the American people. The so-called ‘skinny repeal’
amendment the Senate voted on today would not accomplish those goals.

“While the amendment would have repealed some of Obamacare’s most
burdensome regulations ...